Fulacht fia, Newtown, Co. Clare

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Settlement Sites

Fulacht fia, Newtown, Co. Clare

At the south-eastern base of a steep rocky crag in Newtown, County Clare, a Bronze Age cooking site sits quietly beside a cluster of spring wells, its low earthen mound still holding the shape it was given several thousand years ago.

This is a fulacht fia, a type of ancient outdoor cooking place found in large numbers across Ireland. The typical arrangement involved heating stones in a fire, dropping them into a water-filled trough to bring it rapidly to the boil, and cooking meat within. The burnt and shattered stones were then piled to the side after each use, and it is these discarded heaps that survive as the characteristic horseshoe-shaped mounds we see today.

This particular example is notably well-preserved. The mound measures roughly thirteen metres along its north-east to south-west axis and twelve metres across, rising to a maximum height of around 1.8 metres. At its centre sits a depression, the location of the original trough, measuring approximately 5.5 metres by 3.2 metres and reaching a metre in depth, with the earthen surround intact on three sides and open to the north-west. The proximity to the rocky crag is unlikely to be coincidental; spring wells emerge from its base, and a reliable water source was an absolute requirement for any fulacht fia to function. The site was first reported in October 1991 through the observations of Paul Walsh.

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Pete F
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